


The Wolf You Feed

by SergeantCookie



Category: Journey into Mystery, Marvel (Movies), Thor (2011), Thor (Comics)
Genre: Fire, Gen, Kid Loki, Loki being a BAMF, Navajo myths and legends, Protective Thor, brotherly schmoop, fire gods, graphic nightmares, multiple pantheons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2012-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 05:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SergeantCookie/pseuds/SergeantCookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kid!Loki dreams of Yggdrasil ablaze and decides to embrace his inner fire god to save the nine realms from burning. Thor dreams of wolves and will do all in his power to save his little brother's life. Various pantheons, heroes and people get dragged in the fray. </p>
<p>This contains elements from both comics and movieverse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wolf You Feed

Loki dreamed of a spark of fire suspended in the air.

It was a little thing but immensely bright and beautiful. Amorphous flames of green, red, orange and many other colors twirled together. It was lovely and Loki felt himself drawn to it like a moth. He reached out tentatively to touch it.

His finger tips barely brushed the fire before his hand was alight. Quickly it spread up his arm and soon he was engulfed in the beautiful flame of many colors. But unlike a moth he did not burn. The fire danced across his skin but it felt warm, and familiar. It brought him comfort not pain. 

How he wished others could experience this! And some vague part of him felt that there were others who did. Though few and far off he felt that there were those who were also graced by the wondrous ember’s presence.

It felt safe.

But then the fire began to spread. 

The flames crawled from Loki’s leg and took hold of the ground. From there it ran wild.

It consumed all it touched and the rapid pace in which it swelled was alarming. Trees burned, buildings were razed, rocks combusted, and even the oceans boiled and turned to vapor. Nothing could stand against its warpath. Not even the boundaries between the realms.

It had gone from being a beautiful and marvelous thing to a nightmare, and Loki could only watch in horror as even the living befell to the inferno. Unlike with Loki where the fire merely shimmered protectively across his skin all others were devoured. Hair, feathers and fur were the first to burn and the air became choked with an acrid stench. Loki could hear eyes popping as they turned to jelly under the heat and he listened in horror at the sound of roasting skin and muscle sloughing off of bones. And soon after those very bones snapped and burned like dry tinder. 

And the screams…

The shrieks of billions of creatures being burned alive would forever haunt Loki’s thoughts.

The conflagration grew grander on scale. It consumed Midgard first. From there the jewel colored fires burned through Alfheim, Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotenheim, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, and Muspelheim. Even Hel the land of the dead was set afire. 

Even the dead were burned to nothingness.

Still the devestation did not stop.

And Loki, still engulfed harmlessly in what he once thought to be a stunning and comforting thing, could only stand there unaffected while he watched in horror as Yggdrassil, the great life tree that always was and always would be, was incinerated before his eyes.

Despite that it spread.

It was only once all that ever was was reduced to ashes did the greedy fire turn on him. The warmth of the flames turned to agony as the blaze began to consume him as well.

He screamed although the fire jumped at the chance to snake down his throat and into his lungs. Even so he kept screaming though he knew not if it was for the cruel pain he was enduring or for what he had just witnessed.

He was still screaming when the nightmare fled him and he was wrenched back into consciousness.

When he had bolted up he looked wildly around for any signs of the monstrous inferno.

However there was no rain of ash. There was no blinding fire of gold, green and violet. There was only his cluttered, circular tower room. The only light belonged to the soft cast of moonlight from the window.

And he wasn’t burning. In fact he was soaked from being drenched in his own sweat.

Yet still his heart hammered and his nerves remained alight. His eyes stung and there was a knot in his throat as if his breath and eyes were still being burned. He tried to compose himself but anxiety coursed through his veins like poison.

‘Calm yourself,’ Loki scolded. ‘You are in no danger,’ he tried to reason. Though was not entirely convinced of the truth in the statement.

And just as he thought his breathing was almost under control there was a mighty WHUMP.

Loki felt his nerves spike once more and he was startled into springing off his sleeping matt and into a nearby stack of books. The sound had come from the hole in the floor that served as the room’s exit.

There he saw his brother rather comically wedged in the small opening. One arm was free brandishing a sparking Mjolnir while the other was jammed into his side. Thor’s face was alight (with panic?) and frenzied. In the dark Loki could almost see the lightening dancing across his eyes.

“Brother!” Thor’s voice boomed full of worry as he finally wrenched his other arm free. The second he pulled himself loose from the all too small entrance he was on his feet. Still looking to be half asleep and clad only in a simple pair pants and his helmet Thor stood protectively in front of his sibling, surveying his surroundings for whatever fiend it what that had made his brother cry out so.

He looked absurd. Loki vaguely wondered why Thor hadn’t simply used Mjolnir to properly armor himself.

Instead of commenting on it Loki stared bemusedly up at his brother and watched the emotions that flickered across Thor’s face. It went from one of protective aggression and bloodlust, to mild puzzlement to comprehension dawning. There was no one in the room save for him and Loki. 

Realizing there was no immediate threat to his little brother’s safety Thor lowered his hammer and turned to Loki.

“Brother, when I heard your cries I was concerned for your wellbeing.” Even when Thor tried to speak softly his voice carried. The Thunderer set Mjolnir on the ground as he knelt before his little brother. He gently placed his massive hands on Loki’s shoulders and looked him over for ailments. Finding nothing he frowned and asked, “What is troubling you so?”

Loki blinked still somewhat in shock over the last five minutes. He tried to focus on Thor but he was looking fuzzy. And his face was feeling hot…

Oh.

He was crying.

Well that explained that.

When Loki offered no answer to his brother’s question, instead choosing to silently stare at his older brother with watery eyes, Thor sighed and tugged the smaller boy into his arms in a comforting embrace.

Loki offered no resistance. His heart was still racing and his mind was still reeling. He knew that Thor probably half guessed the cause of Loki’s current terrified state.  
His brother most likely assumed that he had been plagued by a horrible nightmare of his past. He probably thought Loki had dreamed of the unspeakable misdeeds his older and previous self had committed.

But Thor was wrong. Loki had a nightmare yes but it was not something he had done in a past life. He had been a bystander this time. This time he had merely been a witness to something more horrible then anything he could possibly imagine.

He felt the need to explain this to Thor.

But he couldn’t find the words. The tears were coming on stronger now and they robbed him of his breath. He was scared, oddly disoriented, still tired and for a brief moment, feeling like the child he was, Loki decided that he didn’t want to be logical or strong.

“It wasn’t me,” Loki finally sobbed into his brother’s chest. “It wasn’t me.”

Thor, not entirely understanding his brother’s words, merely held him closer.


End file.
